Year 2 of Mac Jones' NFL career ended in disappointment on Sunday. The New England Patriots fell to the Buffalo Bills, 35-23, eliminating them from playoff contention as they went 8-9. Jones made it clear that he wasn't satisfied with how the 2022 season went after the game.

“No,” Jones said when asked if he was satisfied with this season. “Obviously, you look at each year of your football life you want to get better as a player. I did, I learned a lot and I think a lot of guys on our team learned a lot. But it was not the progress any one of us wanted to make.”

Jones might have had one of his best games of the season considering the circumstances and the opponent, He completed 26-of-40 passes for 243 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, but two of those interceptions came on desperation attempts at the end and the first one might have been a miscommunication on Nelson Agholor's end. He also led the Patriots to a touchdown on two of their first four drives and led them to six drives deep into Bills territory.

Still, Jones took accountability for the Patriots' loss and failure to make the playoffs as the team struggled down the stretch for a second consecutive season.

“It starts with me,” Jones said. “Not to talk about last year or anything, it's the same story here. Toward the end of the season, we have to play better. We have to win this game to have a chance to move on. That's how every season's going to be in the NFL, you either get close to making the playoffs and you've got to win out or you get there and you either win or go home. We couldn't do that today.”

Sunday's game was another one that was filled with bright spots for Jones after a rough start to the season. In the Patriots' previous eight games ahead of Sunday's season-finale, he threw eight touchdowns to just one interception. Jones remarked that he noticed some progression as the season went along, but that it was too little, too late.

“I'm just proud of the guys,” Jones said. “It's just tough because we had such a good group of guys. It was the same group that I've been working with through the last two years. We made a lot of progress throughout the year. It just wasn't good enough to consistently do it all year. It's just disappointing.”

The 2022 season was certainly filled with a lot of emotional challenges for Jones, too. After struggling in the first three games, Jones suffered an ankle injury at the end of their Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens that forced him to miss three games. In his absence, backup Bailey Zappe secured two wins and when Jones made his return in Week 7, the rookie replaced him amid cheers from Patriots fans wanting to see Jones benched.

Jones retained his starting spot in Week 8 and never gave it back up, but the Patriots' offense struggled through much of November and December. He had a blowup with the Patriots' offensive coaches in each of the first three games of December, adding to the drama of the season.

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Jones seemed especially proud of his teammates as the season came to an end.

“The guys in the room, we fought through a lot this year,” Jones said. “A lot of ups and downs. We learned a lot about each other. We learned a lot about football. It just wasn't good enough today. It starts with me as the quarterback. We definitely left everything out there from the ‘PATRIOTS' on our jerseys to the names on our backs. It's all you can really do. But it's disappointing.

“Tough result. Proud of the guys, I wouldn't trade them for anybody.”

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